On this episode of Banking on KC, Rachel Black, abstract artist and founder of Rachel Black Design, joins host Kelly Scanlon to discuss how her background, family legacy and creative journey have shaped her distinctive artistic style.
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Kelly Scanlon: Welcome to Banking on kc. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Abstract artist Rachel Black, whose work is being showcased in the one word parkway of the bank. Welcome, Rachel. Happy to have you here.
Rachel Black: Thank you.
Kelly Scanlon: Let's talk about your work. For those who are just discovering it, how would you describe your artistic style?
Rachel Black: So I. I am an abstract artist and I tend to use a lot of bright colors, and I enjoy using movement and energy within my painting to, uh, bring out I think emotion that's. Probably bottled up inside of me. That's, uh, what I show in my artwork.
Kelly Scanlon: So lots of color, lots of movement, lots of energy. And what is it that draws you to that abstract genre?
Rachel Black: I love abstract art when I see it. And I really, one of my favorite artists is Willem de Kooning and he's got, uh, a piece or two in the, uh, Nelson. And I just love the movement. And the layers of the, uh, oil paints, textures, it's like you wanna reach out and touch it and, um, I just love. Looking at that and, and, and feeling it on my own artwork.
And also I really enjoy Hans Hoffman. He has lots of color. Those are two influences, um, of my artwork.
Kelly Scanlon: What materials and media do you most enjoy working with and how do they help you express that emotion, that movement and so forth?
Rachel Black: So I use spray paint and I really, um, and I'm also influenced by graffiti art.
Uh, Keith Haring and um, Jean-Michel Basquiat are also other artists that are influencers of mine. I love to use the spray paint that just kind of is like a light, airy feeling when you use it sometimes, or sometimes you can really hold down that spray and get a lot of color on there. And it's like more of like a punctual feeling.
And then I like to go in and scratch or draw, um. Just kinda like Basquiat used to do in his artwork and kinda like childlike, uh, scratches and feeling to it, but then they'll. It takes some enamel and enamel's hard to, um, control and it's kind of fluid. And I will splash that on the painting and maybe I will use a scraper and just swish it across the painting and let it flow for wherever it goes and, and see what happens.
And so, um. With my artwork, it's a process. Don't know what it's gonna end up like. So it's a feeling when it comes to the end. I, it's just a feeling. I know it looks compositionally there and it's done. People always ask me like, how do you know when it's done? It's just, I know.
Kelly Scanlon: Right. Right. Yeah. It's kinda like that whole journey and destination thing, you know?
It's the whole journey. Yeah. It's not the destination. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Your grandmother is big Sonia. Yes. And, uh, if you don't know her, uh, you need to know her. Yes. Uh, she's known for her resilience. Yes. She's a survivor of the Holocaust. Mm-hmm. And she is a storyteller. Yes. Uh, she wants people to know about that experience.
How has her legacy shaped your identity? Not just personally, but creatively as well?
Rachel Black: Well, she is a doodler, and I don't know if you knew this. It's not, it's not. If, if any of you have seen the movie, um, a bunch of her doodles have been incorporated in, into, uh, the movie and I, and it shows her, um, doodling.
And she, to this day, she does her doodles and, um. We even have a doodle hanging in our house. Um, but I've just seen her growing up watching her doodle. She'll doodle on envelopes and birthday cards and we'll receive these from her. And, um, I feel like that's been inspirational for me because she came from this dark past and then she's got these bright, colorful doodles.
Mm-hmm. Gleaning and so. In my artwork, um, I tend to prioritize, as you can see in the bright colors, the themes of lightness, optimism, and resilience rather than darkness. So that you'll see that in my art, they're all, all my pieces are pretty bright and colorful and yeah. And so that brings me happiness and I can tell it brings people happiness when they.
Look at my artwork.
Kelly Scanlon: Uh, how, so you mentioned watching your grandmother as you grew up doodling. When did you take an interest in art? When did you start being drawn to it? Was there a point
Rachel Black: when we were really li I have a twin sister, both of us when we were really little and my mother used to be the art lady at, um.
At our elementary school for kindergarten, she would bring in pieces of art to share with the classroom and teach us about different artists. And she always had some sort of art. Class going on or art background going on. So we would always pick up that from my mom. Mm-hmm. So,
Kelly Scanlon: so it really is something that mm-hmm.
So, so it really is something that, yeah. Started at a very, very young age. Yes. You really kind of born into it, so to speak, and then you ran with it as your sister. Yeah. She does art as, as well. She all interested in art. She does
Rachel Black: paintings as well. Um, yeah, and we both were graphic designers for a long time.
My, um. Uncle as well. So Sonya's son is, um, an artist as well. Um, and so it just kind of. Came down through generation.
Kelly Scanlon: Yeah. We've already talked a bit about how your work feels deeply emotional, how it's layered and that you know when it's finished. Mm-hmm. You know, you don't necessarily know when you start, but do you begin mm-hmm.
With a specific feeling or story in mind and then let it go from there and let it emerge through the process?
Rachel Black: I might have some sort of idea of how I want the look and feel to be, but. I don't have it concrete in my head. Um, I do research imagery sometimes online or I have a ton of photos that I've taken, um, on different vacations or I might see something interesting around me outside or in my house and I'll take photo of it.
And so I have a photo library and I just get, um, colors and lines and patterns from. What I see and I love just looking at a blank canvas and just starting out and I mean, it could be throwing, uh, you know, some enamel on there or, or spray painting some lines. Um, and so it's funny 'cause the beginning I feel like is the easiest.
And then you get. Closer to the middle of the process and it starts to get harder because there's so much, um, depth that I'm working with in different kinds of textures and colors and paints, and how do I bring that? Back together and make them work together to complete the painting. And so it becomes like a challenge.
Yeah.
Kelly Scanlon: Uh, so you don't work, I, I've interviewed some artists, uh, before who say that they put a grit on it. On the paper. No. Or you just, you just start, it's just
Rachel Black: from whatever I'm feeling. Like what? Yeah, it just. It's the process. Yeah. How long does
Kelly Scanlon: it take you typically from start to finish?
Rachel Black: People ask me this all the time.
I bet. And I will tell you, um, I don't, I don't keep track of time. I don't, I don't do that because then it starts to feel like work and I want it to be fun and light and sometimes I have to walk away from a painting and it may be for weeks, it might be for months. And, um, I might come back and. Work on it for about an hour and I might have to walk away from it a little bit if I, if I'm not sure if it's not clicking yet.
And also I'd like to say that, um, I work on like eight different paintings at once.
Kelly Scanlon: I was gonna ask you if you're like a book reader who starts a bunch of different books. Yeah. So if I have a
Rachel Black: bunch of canvases that are brand new, fresh white, I will be working on all of them at once and some will. Take on a different look and some will come together faster than another one.
And so it's just, they're all works in progress and time is, um, just kind of up in the air for, for, you know, when they're finished. I, um. I worked in the corporate world for a long time, sitting at a desk. So this is my freedom and that's why I just don't, I don't wanna log time. Exactly.
Kelly Scanlon: Well, now that you've mentioned the corporate world Yeah.
Uh, your work spans both commercial and, uh, and fine art. Yeah. So is there a particular moment though? Mm-hmm. When those two worlds. Converged for you and influenced your creative direction in a deeper way.
Rachel Black: Yeah. So, um, so just to start out, I did go to, uh, KU for, um, bachelor of Fine Arts. And my emphasis was in painting.
And at the time, um, I thought I wanted to work in art galleries, but then I realized, you know, um, I, I'm just not sure I want to do, uh. Gallery side, the retail side of it. So I went back to school, got, um, did some graphic design work and my career was graphic design for about 15 years or so. And during that time I was so busy with work, I wasn't able to paint a whole lot.
But afterwards, um, I just really need, I had a fire in me that wanted to get back to painting. And so, um. That's when I feel like I was bringing more graphic design into my paintings. Um, earlier on it was more paint early, um, not so many, so much of the like patterns or design like feeling, um, early on that now, um, as my artwork progresses, I tend to bring more of the design elements into that.
And I really love, I just love, um. Different types of design that people do. And um, anyways, I do a lot of research for that and I just loved. Drawing kind of like my grandma doodling and that's how it used to, I used to do kind of free form. Yeah. Yeah.
Kelly Scanlon: As your career has progressed, you are introducing more and more of the design elements mm-hmm.
Uh, into it. So can you gimme an example of what you're talking about there?
Rachel Black: Sure. Um, so I have some stencils that I like to use that are more, uh, clean cut lines, um, or clean cut patterns. Some are patterns you might recognize. Some are just, um, just what I think of as design elements. And so I will use the, the stencils and I'll spray paint the imagery on, or, you know, might use some paint, different kinds of paints, but that's what I'm talking about as graphic design.
Okay?
Kelly Scanlon: Sure.
Rachel Black: Yeah.
Kelly Scanlon: And many. Artists that you talk to. Mm-hmm. Whether they're writers or whether they're performing or anybody really that's creative has these points where they get these mental blocks. Some people tend to be drawn the direction that their work is going. Realistic art, because it's, so when that happens for you, how do you understand it's,
has your, is more changed time.
Rachel Black: I call them visual playgrounds. Um, you can walk up to a piece and get lost in it and have fun and notice things that. Might be different or unique. Um, previously I would try to work at it and work at it. Work at it, and it would muddle the painting. It would, the painting would get to be too chaotic and not, it wouldn't look right, and I just learned you need to just walk away and it'll eventually come to you.
Kelly Scanlon: When some people look at abstract art, they think, I have no clue what that is. Mm-hmm. What would you advise people who look at your art and don't even know where to begin with it, rather than just letting you know the emotion take over?
Rachel Black: Some people tend to be more drawn to, uh, realistic art because it's what they know, they understand it, it's safe.
My art is more of, I call them visual playgrounds. Um, you can walk up to a piece and get lost in it and have fun and notice things that. Might be different or unique. I mean, just little details here and there. And sometimes I'll just sit and look at a painting and get lost and find some, um, different areas that I can get lost in.
There's, I can create a lot of depth and, um, I just wish the viewer to just, um, stand there. Relax and, and notice the colors, the textures, uh, the different design elements and, um, have fun with it. There's, I mean, I don't expect you to understand it, really. It's just if it evokes an emotion, great. Um. But yeah, usually people are, it brings a lot of happiness to people.
Kelly Scanlon: Well, especially with the vibrant colors Yeah. That you talked about. And the movement and the energy. Yeah. Um, I, I personally love abstract art, and one of the reasons that I like it so much is because really what you just said, I think it's, it is made for the viewer. Yeah. Because the viewer can interpret it as.
They wish. Right. What it might be the way the sun is shining on it at the moment. Yeah. It might just be the what mood that you're in, right. Or whatever. Um, yeah. But I, I feel like because you can bring more of your own interpretation to it, it's made for the person who's viewing it.
Rachel Black: Right. And I just wanna add to that is that we have so much information coming at us mm-hmm.
All the time. Like on our phones, on the computers, on the TVs. Everything. And so I feel like art is a way to escape. And so, um, with my art, you can have it in a, a room and just sit there and look at it and just. Kind of go on a vacation, I guess.
Kelly Scanlon: Um, that's a good way of putting it. Yeah. Yeah. I love that.
Rachel Black: Just like relax and just escape and hang out. Mm-hmm. And so that's why I just, I think of them as little as little playgrounds. Like when you're a kid and you're on a playground and you're having so much fun, it's kind of like that you're, you're sitting there having fun, um, enjoying the arts.
Kelly Scanlon: Exactly. Um.
You are an artist. Mm-hmm. But obviously you've mentioned the, the different exhibits that you do. Mm-hmm. You have, you have, um, it on display right here at the bank mm-hmm. Down in the, the lobby of one word parkway. Uh, so it's also a business for you. Mm-hmm. How do you marry the business side with the creative side?
Rachel Black: That's really hard for me because I only like the creative. I only like the creative side. Um, you know, I'm not, I, I'll be honest with you, I'm not much of a business person, so, um, and I'm my own worst critic, so I tend to be a little bit shy about, um, the business side of it. So, uh, it's, it's a constant work.
Mm-hmm. In progress.
Kelly Scanlon: Yeah. But you do have, uh, a website. I do that, and you can sell through that. Mm-hmm. And then, of course, like I mentioned, the exhibits. Um, do you do any commissioned work?
Rachel Black: I, I, I don't. Okay. We can add that out. I don't do that because the artwork is coming from me and I ca I've tried it in the past where people are telling me what colors they want and it's just, it's just not.
Same. It's just not like it. Artwork is coming from inside of me. It's whatever's going on inside of me. I can't be told.
Kelly Scanlon: So, so you might take a job one day if somebody said, just go at it. Yeah. And I, that's part of the joy Yeah. That your artwork brings to me. Yeah. Is that, I don't know exactly what I'm going to see.
Right. Yeah. In that case, you might consider one. Sure. Okay. Um, tell us about your website. Mm-hmm.
Rachel Black: Uh, so my website, uh, showcases the artwork that I have sold and also have available. And, uh, a little bit about me is on there. And it also shows the artwork in, uh, different rooms so you can see what it looks like up in a home or in a, in an office.
'cause sometimes people don't. They can't visualize what abstract art is going to look like. So, uh, you can also take a look at that, and then there's contact form on there if you wanna reach out to me for
Kelly Scanlon: question. Okay. And what is the, the address of your website?
Rachel Black: It's, uh, my first and last name, so it's Rachel Black Design, DE.
SIG n.com and um, yeah, feel free to reach out to me
Kelly Scanlon: with any questions. So Rachel Black design.com, go out there and look at her artwork. Uh, looking ahead, are there any themes or mediums you haven't explored yet but you feel drawn to and how might. The next chapter of your artistic evolution? Look.
Rachel Black: Well, I used to work with acrylics and I'm thinking about maybe trying that again because they dry faster than oils and not as messy.
Um, so I might, I might try to do some art in, in the acrylics and dabble in that. Also, I used to do, um, graphy silk screening in Oh, okay. College and, um. My older, one of my older paintings that my brother has hanging in his house, he, it has, um, some silk screens of, uh, photos of Italy, um, on there within the abstract painting, which are neat.
So I thought about maybe trying to do some more printing within the, um, the painting. Kind of layering. Um, I'm trying to think what else. Uh, I've also thought about simplifying, 'cause sometimes my art, um, has a lot going on and maybe trying to do some more minimalistic, simple paintings mm-hmm.
Kelly Scanlon: Would
Rachel Black: challenge me.
Kelly Scanlon: Yeah. So do you do mostly large formats? Sometimes smaller.
Rachel Black: I work large format, and it's because I can really get my body into it and, um, motion into it, and it's hard for me to work smaller. Yeah. Um, I've, I've done some smaller ones, but really the large paintings are my bread and butter.
Kelly Scanlon: You know, I, I've, I've referenced your exhibits.
Mm-hmm. Where have you exhibited? Mm-hmm. Where are some of the places that you've exhibited?
Rachel Black: Okay, so here in Kansas City, most recent was Habitat, uh, gallery. Which was, which is in, which was in, um. Lady Volko Center, um, and then out in, uh. Vail and Aspen. I have also sold my artwork. Mm-hmm. But, um, around here in Kansas City, um, also at Prairie Brook.
Mm-hmm. Sure. I used to have my art showing there.
Kelly Scanlon: Rachel, thank you so much for coming on the show, for talking about your art, what inspires it and. The joy that you love to bring to people through it. We really appreciate you coming here today. And for anyone who would like to get a firsthand look at that art, please feel free to come to the Country Club Bank headquarters at One Ward Parkway.
Uh, go to the lobby and you will see it displayed there. Thank you for having me.
Joe Close: This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Rachel Black for being our guest. On this episode of Banking on kc. Rachel's vibrant, abstract art draws inspiration from her global travels, her grandmother's resilience and her own journey. From graphic design to full-time artists. With color, energy, and emotion, she transforms each canvas into a visual playground that invites viewers to escape, reflect and reconnect with joy.
Creativity and culture are essential threads in the fabric of a thriving community by showcasing Rachel's art at our one word Parkway headquarters. We're proud to support the artists who spark imagination, conversation and connection. Throughout Kansas City. Thanks for tuning in this week we're banking on you, Kansas City. Country Club Bank member FDIC.